(Gary Scharrer, Houston Chronicle)
Last year’s record drought was like an alarm sounding, lawmakers said Thursday, and Texans must now decide to respond by investing in the state’s future water supplies.
“If the people of Texas don’t want to stand up and provide infrastructure we need for our future, it isn’t going to happen,” House Natural Resources Chairman Allan Ritter, R-Nederland, said during a hearing of his committee. The group is examining the impact of the Texas drought, evaluating how the state’s existing water supplies can meet demand and looking at funding the state water plan. The Legislature approved a $53 billion water plan 15 years ago but has not found a way to finance it.
Recent rains have flowered Texas hillsides with bluebonnets, but the state’s climatologist and others warned that parts of Texas remain in severe drought. And future rainfall for Texas remains uncertain.
“Going forward, the outlook is not particularly dire or particularly beneficial,” climatologist and Texas A&M atmospheric sciences professor John Neilsen-Gammon said. Texas faces equal chances of above- or below-normal rainfall this year “with a slight tilt for warmer-than-normal temperatures,” he predicted, adding that the state is more likely to face continuing drought over the next 15 years before conditions improve in the following decade. (See the full story in The Houston Chronicle)
RELATED:
Lost to the Drought: A Conversation with Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples (State Impact Texas)
OTHER HEADLINES:
- Providers Try to Fill Women’s Health Program Gap (Houston Chronicle)
- More Students, Less Money in Texas Schools (Houston Chronicle)
- New Record-Falsification Allegations Made Against Third HISD School (KTRK 13 News)
- Catholic Group Urges TAPPS Review (Houston Chronicle)
- Woman Fights For Daughter To Use Walker (KPRC 2 News)
- Donation Account Opened To Aid Magnolia Boy’s Recovery (Your Houston News)
OPINIONS ON THE NEWS:
Smart Transportation for Houston & Texas
- Metro Needs To Focus On Its Purpose
(Bill King, Houston Chronicle)
“Metro’s strategic priorities are so general they can mean virtually anything, which means they mean nothing.” - Super-Commuters Need Options
(Editorial, Houston Chronicle)
“Houston has seen an explosion in a type of commuter who travels not within a city to get from home to work, or even from a suburb to the city, but between two separate metro areas. These super-commuters are becoming a new norm, and they demonstrate the need for greater transportation options in Texas.”